Police say 2010 hit-and-run was murder

Mon, 2014-06-02 17:07Harlan Kirgan

OPELOUSAS (AP) — Opelousas police have booked a state inmate with first-degree murder in hit-and-run death four years ago.
Deonta Ware, 22, was booked Friday in the death of 17-year-old Tyrell Jenkins, whose bicycle was hit by a truck about 9 p.m. on March 29, 2010.
“It was not an accident. It was an intentional act,” Police Chief Perry Gallow said Friday during a press conference.
He said Ware has refused to talk and has been sent back to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where he is serving time for vehicle theft.
It was not clear whether Ware has an attorney.
Family and friends said Ware and Jenkins knew each other well.
“Our families are kin on so many sides. This is just mind-blowing,” said Jenkins’ mother, Denise Comeaux.
According to Gallow, another state prison inmate told authorities in February that Ware had said he killed Jenkins because he believed Jenkins had assaulted Ware’s grandmother. The grandmother, now dead, never reported such an assault, Gallow said.
The police chief said word of the alleged confession prompted fresh interviews with relatives, friends and others.
Ware had been on work release, Gallow said. He said he has taken steps to ensure that Ware is returned to St. Landry Parish once his state sentence is over.